SDRN Privacy Policy: The Sustainable Development Research Network (SDRN) is a research network funded by Defra. It is administered under contract by researchers and administrative staff of Policy Studies Institute (PSI). PSI is one of the UK's leading, policy-focused research institutes and has the status of a department within the University of Westminster.

SDRN Principles: SDRN’s Privacy Policy is designed to assist you in understanding how we collect, use and safeguard the personal information you provide to us, and to assist you in making informed decisions when using our site and associated services. Whenever you provide such personal information, we will treat that information in accordance with this policy. We will act in accordance with current legislation and aim to meet current Internet best practice.

What information do we collect? We collect information on our users in two ways: through website usage data including cookies (see below), and through registration as a member of SDRN. Registration as a member of SDRN Registration as a member allows you to receive electronic copies of the fortnightly SDRN Mailing, as well as accessing archived copies of the Mailing and receiving occasional emails alerting you of relevant news, events, or new publications.

When you register as a member of SDRN you have the option of providing SDRN with personal information. The minimum information we need to register a member is their name and email address. This information is entirely confidential and will not be made publicly available to any third parties (an exception is the inclusion of name and organisational affiliation in attendee lists for SDRN events – see ‘Events’ below). Any further details you choose to supply about yourself when you register as a member are provided at your own discretion and will also be treated as confidential. This information, such as your research interests or your location of work, will be used to allow us to filter the emails we send you and to gain a better understanding of the membership of the Network.

Email updates: SDRN members automatically receive the regular email newsletter, the SDRN Mailing. The SDRN Mailing is sent once every two weeks using an online mailing system called MailChimp which holds the SDRN membership database. Occasional emails about important news, events and new publications of interest to SDRN members may also be sent from time to time. Subscribers will be notified if the frequency with which regular Mailings are sent changes and will never be sent promotional emails for any news, events or new publications that are not organised or published by SDRN or the Policy Studies Institute. Users can unsubscribe from the Network at any time by emailing info@sd-research.org.uk

Events: When booking for an event or course you will be asked for information such as your address, company and telephone number. These data will be retained by SDRN for purposes relating to the administration of that event and to invite you to become a member of the Network. Your name and organisational affiliation may be included in event attendee lists and similar materials, such as post-event summary notes placed on the SDRN website. We may also send you information about SDRN news, events and new publications, and occasional notifications about the activities of the Policy Studies Institute. By registering for an event, you agree to receive communication relating to that course or event, an invitation to become a member of the Network, and limited other information that we believe will be of interest to you, and will send out occasionally. At any time you can opt out of these emails by replying to them with an email entitled 'UNSUBSCRIBE' or following the ‘unsubscribe’ link.

Sharing your information: At no time will we sell or release your personal data to any third party organisation (subject to the Exclusions stated below).

Cookies and Website usage data: Our website utilises 'cookies' and Web server logs to collect information about how the site is used. Cookies allow Web servers to recognise the computer used to access a website. Cookies are small pieces of data that are stored by a user’s web browser software on the user’s hard drive. Cookies provide non-personal statistical information about visits to pages on the site, which may include the duration of individual page views, paths taken by visitors through the site, the websites visited just before and just after our website, and other general information. This information is collected on an aggregate basis. None of this information is associated with you as an individual. If you are concerned about cookies, you can turn them off in your browser. However, if you do this please note that some areas of the site may not work properly.

Access to your personal information: You have the right to request a copy of the personal information SDRN holds about you and have any inaccuracies corrected or removed. Please address requests in writing to Ben Watson, SDRN Coordinator, Policy Studies Institute, 50 Hanson Street, London, W1W 6UP.

Protection of minors: The SDRN site is intended for adults working in, or with an interest in, sustainable development research and policy, and no part of our site is targeted to attract minors. For that reason, we do not collect or maintain information at our website from those we actually know are aged 16 and under. We request that all visitors to our website aged 16 and under do not disclose or provide any personally identifiable information. If we discover that an individual aged 16 or under has provided us with personally identifiable information, we will delete such information from our records.

Exclusions: We reserve the right to access and disclose individually identifiable information to comply with applicable laws and lawful government requests, and to operate our systems properly when we, in good faith, believe that the law requires it or for the protection of our legal rights or those of our users.

Contacting SDRN If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, the practices of SDRN, or your dealings with this website, please contact info@sd-research.org.uk

SDRN, May 2012